Car-fender.



PATBNTBD JULY 26, 1904.

P. E. CATON.

CAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 27, 190s.

No MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented July 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRED E. CATON, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORIO CATONS FOUNDRIT ANDMACHINE CO., OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, A COR- PORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 765,813, dated July 26,1904,

Application filed October 27,1903. Serial No. 178,668. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, t 717/603/ concern:

Be it known that I, FRED E. CA'roN, acitizen of the United States,residing'at San Jose, Santa Clara county, State of California, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Fenders; and I dohereby declare the following' to be a full, clear, and eXact descriptionof the same.

My invention relates to that class of fenders or safety-guards for carsin which the front edge of the guard apron or scoop is normally carriedabove and out of contact with the rails and road-bed, but is adapted todescend to functional position by the operation of a trigger or tripupon coming in contact with an obstructing body. In this class offenders the apron sometimes consists of a curved or scoop-like frame,composed of ribs and netting, and sometimes it consists of a number ofcurved resilient arms. It is usually suspended by a connection at itsrear upper edge, the major portion of its body eX- tending forwardly andhaving no support other than that afforded by its rear connection. armsis necessarily somewhat resilient or yielding, (a rigid frame beingundesirable,) the front edge is not well carried above the road-bed andrails, but has a considerable shaking movement, due to the movements ofthe car, which said shaking is the more pronounced where, as in manycases, the fender is carried by the spring-supported car-body and not bythe trucks.

rIhe main object of my invention is to remedy this difficulty byfurnishing a positive and direct support for the front of the guardapron orscoop, which result I attain by means of the trigger itself,between which and the front edge of the scoop I form a direct tripconnection.

Other objects of my invention are to provide for getting the trigger upout of the way after the first operation of tripping the apron or scoopis performed and for positively throwing the apron or scoop downto theroadbed as soon as it is tripped and also to provide simple andeffective means for readjusting the parts of the fender after use.

As the frame whether a net or spring- To these ends my inventionconsists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combinations ofparts, which I shall now describe and claim by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of mycarfender ofthe pivoted net variety, showing it in its normal setposition. Fig. 2 is an end view of same, showing by dotted lines itsposition when called into use. Fig. 3 is an end View showing the apronor scoop of the springarm type, the dotted lines indicating its positionwhen released for use. Fig. 4 is an end view of a similar type of scoopor apron, showing a forwardly-extending trigger and a simple lineconnection to readjust the parts after use.

A is a portion of the car body or bed in front of the forward wheels B.From the car either from the truck or, as here shown, from the car-bodyis supported by suitable meansas, for example, by the straps C-the frameD, which carries the fender.

Eis the guard apron or scoop, composed in Figs. l and 2 of suitable ribsand netting, as shown. At its rear upper edge the scoop E has a bar e,which is pivotally suspended by any suitable means-as, for example, bythe hooked lower ends of the J-hangers F, which hangers are rigidlyconnected at their upper ends to the supporting-frame D. It will thus beseen that the scoop E may be turned about its upper rear edge as acenter to lift its for- Ward edge above or to allow it to descend to therails and road-bed.

G is the trigger or trip. It may be a frame of any suitableconstruction-as, for example, a net-frame, as here shown. It ispivotally suspended by its upper edge by any suitable means, as by thelower ,hooked ends of the d -hangers H, which are rigidly secured attheir upper ends to the front of the supportingframe D. From the loweredge of the trigger or trip G' extend backwardly the supporting-hooks I,the rear ends o f which engage with the forward edge of the apron orscoop E and serve to normally hold said edge up and support it above thetrack-rails and road-bed. The hooks I have suitable braces c'.

As far as described the operation of the fender is as follows: In itsset position, ready to be called into use, the trigger or trip Gengages, by means of its hooks I, the forward edge of the scoop E andholds said edge above the track-rails and road-bed, so that the front ofsaid scoop is positively supported and will not have any undue shakingmovement due to its own resiliency or other want of rigidity, whichwould tend to make it come in contact with the road-bed. Tf now anobstructing body be met, the contact of said body against the trigger Gwill cause said trigger to swing backwardly sufficiently to disengageits hooks I from the front edge of the scoop, whereupon said scoop willdrop down and its forward edge will rest upon the rails and road-bed inposition to prevent the body from getting under it and said body will bereceived upon the scoop or apron. W'hen the situation is relieved by theremoval of the obstructing body, the car attendant can cause thetriggerG and the scoop E to rengage, and the deviceis thereby set once more.This, it will be observed, is the simplest form of the fender, in whichthe main object of supporting positively the forward edge of the scoopis accomplished, and the device, thus simple, may be used with advantagein those cases where too much expense is not desired; but to effectfurther objects-namely, to throw the scoop down positively, to get thetrigger up out of the way, and to reset the device from the car-thecomplete construction is as follows: Secured rigidly to and rising fromthe upper back bar c of the scoop is a lever K, which passes up throughthe floor of the car in position to be operated by the motorman.Connected with this lever at point Z, relatively high up thereon, is aconnecting-rod L, the other end of which extends to and is connectedwith a crank-arm M, secured to the top edge of the trigger G. A springis let into these connections in any suitable place for the purpose ofthrowing them forward to lift the trigger and of positively throwing thescoop down. I have here shown a spring N, bearing behind the lever, itstension being exerted to throw the lever forward. The operation of theseparts will now be seen. When the trigger G is pressed backwardly by theobstructingbody, and thereby detaches its hooks I from the scoop E, saidscoop will fall, being impelled thereto not only by gravity, but by thespring N. This spring also throws the lever K forwardly, and thismovement of the lever, through the connecting-rod L and the crank-arm M,will lift the trigger G in its backward movement high enough to get itout of the way of the obstructing body, which will now pass upon thescoop. It will be seen that Athe point of connection Z of rod L beingrelatively high up on lever K provides by its extended arc of movementfor the required swing of the trigger to lift it fully up out of theway. It will also be seen that the relative positions of the endconnections of the rod L both with respect to each other and to thepivotal center of the scoop are such that while the trigger and scoopare connected by the hooks the spring N is powerless to throw the leverK forward, so that the parts remain locked in their normal position; butowing to the resilience or slight inherent yielding in the triggeritself an obstructing body coming in contact with it will cause it topress back far enough to release its hooks from the scoop, whereupon thespring N will instantly act and throw the scoop down and the trigger up.To reset the parts, the motorman has only to draw back the lever K,whereby the scoop E will be lifted and the trigger-frame G will belowered, and the engagement of its hooks I with said scoop will againtake place.

In Figs. l and 2 the apron or scoop is of the net-frame type, suspendedpivotally by its upper rear edge. VIn some fenders, however, the scoopconsists of spring-arms of a C shape. To apply my invention to this typeit is only necessary, as I show in Figs. 3 and 4, to direct the springof the arms to normally depress the front edge to the road-bed andtracks. Thus the spring-arms E in their shank portions e have a tensionso directed that the front edge of the scoop is thrown and held down ifnot interfered with or supported. Vln this case the hooks 1 of thetrigger G engaging the front edge holds said edge up above the rails androad-bed, as shown in full lines; but when the trigger is forced backand trips the scoop the front edge will spring down to functionallyoperative position, as shown by the dotted lines. In both these iiguresthe trigger G is pivotally suspended in bearing-arms G', secured to thebeam G2, to which the scoop-arms are secured.

In Fig. 4 the arrangement is adapted for a casein which the spacebetween the truckframe and front edge of the car is too short to permitthe axis of the trigger to be forward of the vertical plane of the frontedge of the scoop, as in the other arrangements shown; but as it is bestto have the trigger well in front of the scoop in order to give thelatter ample time after the tripping to descend to the road-bed beforethe obstructing body can reach it or get under it said'trigger is shownin Fig. 4 as being curved or extended forwardly for the proper distance.Also in Fig. 4 I have shown a line g, secured to the for-- ward edge ofthe scoop and thence extending to a handle g2 within reach of the caroperator, said line serving as a simple means to reset the parts.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is4

l. A car-fender comprising an apron the front edge of which whenunsupported rests upon the rails and road-bed, a swinging trig- IOO IIO

ger in front of said apron, a trip connection between the trigger andthe front edge of the apron adapted to support'said edge above the railsand road-bed, and to drop it when tripped, and means operated by theapron in dropping, to simultaneously swing the trigger up.

2. A car-fender comprisingl an apron pivotally suspended by its upperrear edge, a swinging trigger in front of said apron, a trip connectionbetween the trigger and the front edge of the apron adapted to supportsaid edge above the rails and road-bed and to drop it when tripped, alever connected with the rear edge oi' the apron and a connecting-rodbetween said lever and the trigger adapted to Swing the trigger up' asthe apron drops.

3. A Car-fender comprising an apron pivotally suspended by its upperrear edge, a swinging trigger in front of said apron, a trip connectionbetween the trigger and the front edge of the apron adapted to supportsaid edge above the rails and road-bed and to drop it when tripped, alever connected with the rear edge of the apron, a connecting-rodbetween said lever and the trigger adapted to swing the trigger up asthe apron drops, and a spring' to throw the apron down.

4. A car-fender comprising an apron pivotally suspended by its rearedge, a trigger in ger and the front edge oi' the apron to support saidedge above the rails and road-bed and to drop it when tripped, aspringcon trolled lever attached to the rear edge of the apron, acrank-arm on the upper edge of the trigger, anda rod connecting saidlever and arm.

5. A car-fender comprising an apron pivotally suspended by itsv rearedge, a trigger in front thereof pivotally suspended by its upper edge,a trip connection between said trigger and the front edge ot the apron,to Support said edge above the rails and road-bed, and to drop it whentripped, an uprising lever attached to the rear edge of the apron, aspring acting on said lever to throw it forwardly, a crank-arm on theupper edge of the trigger, and a rod connecting the lever with thecrank-arm, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set rny f Witnesses:

LEROY BAILEY, H. LYSLE AUSTIN.

